Chronicles of Crimson
by Necro-Knight Nate
Summary: [SYOC] Fireteam Crimson; a team shrouded in mystery. Their exploits are known throughout Infinity; and now we have a record of their events. SYOC form inside!
1. Infinity

Chapter 1: Infinity

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The U.N.S.C Infinity. A marvel of modern engineering. I stand looking out of the window inside the pelican and just admire the ship before. It's so much more...bigger than I was expecting. My eyes glide over each piece of the enormous spacecraft, and they eventually stop on the ship's engine's. They tend to stand out from the rest of the entire ship, mainly because they seem more metallic than the actual ship, and send out a dim blue glow, even when not in use.

"So that's the Forerunner engine, huh?...Strange. I always imagined it to be more...complicated looking." I say to myself, still staring out the window. I sigh, running a hand through my short, dark red hair, messing up my usual clean look. I turn from the window and take a look around the empty cabin of the Pelican.

A feeling of loneliness slowly creeps over me; the actual quietness of the cabin is unlike anything I'm used to. I've been an army man most of my life, and to be somewhere so...quiet is unnerving to me. I shake my head, looking back down at the red rubber - like material covering nearly my entire body, save my neck, head, and hands. They told me it's the inner layer of armor needed to fully co-operate with the new Spartan VI's; something about how it integrates the body with the armor. Damn eggheads, they never really give us simple explanations.

I turn my attention away from the stuff covering my body and turn my head back up to the holo-glass, which is still showing the coverage of New Phoenix. Damn, it's brutal. The entire place looks like it's been ransacked, or worse. Fires can be seen just from the video alone; must be one hell of a blaze. I even heard rumors that one of the invading Sangheli tried to detonate -get this- a Havok nuke. A damned nuke! What the hell are those Covenant bastards thinking!?

I sigh, running a hand down my olive skin and rubbing my dark blue orbs. It's been a helluva day, but in a way I'm thankful for it. The attack on New Phoenix has finally kicked the U.N.S.C into full gear; they're finally bringing Spartan, Marine, ODST and whatever kind of military they can find and bringing them together on the Infinity. We're taking the fight straight to the Covenant this time; and they don't know we've got a ship like the Infinity on our side.

The Pelican begins to slow and turn, and I don't even need to look up to know we're starting to dock. Butterflies begin to fill my stomach. I may have alot of experience in the military, but cut a guy a break, okay? It's always nerve-wracking heading off to be positioned somewhere else, and it's even more intimidating when it's a ship as large as Infinity, and even more so when you're a Spartan; everyone expects you to be this stoic warrior straight outta a storybook. Granted I do look like one, being around six foot four and all, it's still a lot to live up to.

After a few more minutes of nerve wracking silence, the Pelican finally sets down inside the hanger with a bump, and the loading doors open for me to exit. The pilot leans out of his seat and turns his head to me, flashing me a thumbs up.

"Welcome home, Spartan."

I flash him back my own thumbs up and carefully exit the Pelican. The first thing I notice about Infinity is that it is bigger on the inside! Even the space for just the hangar is immense, and I instantly feel smaller than I really am. Doors, walkways, soldiers carrying cargo, Pelicans coming in and out...it's a real hub of a place.

"Greetings, Spartan!"

I turn my head forward to see what appears to be a miniature hub for terminals and the like, and a yellow A.I floats out above one of the many terminals. It appears to resemble a thirty year old man, wearing some rather odd clothing. If I were to guess, probably some sort of fashion from the old Earth times; alot of A.I's seem to be programmed to look that way. I cautiously approach the A.I, looking down at him.

"Um...yes?"

"Good to meet you, Spartan! My name's Roland, and I'm the ship's Artificial Intelligence. I run pretty much everything around here."

Roland looks behind me at the Pelican I arrived in, then nods his head.

"Ah, so you're Crimson Leader, right?"

I look down at him with a face of genuine surprise. Crimson Leader? They wanted me as a Leader?

"Pardon, did you say Crimson...Leader? I was told I was being moved to Infinity to join a fireteam, but they didn't tell me anything else."

Roland moves around some minature holograms in front of him, then nods his head again.

"Yup. Commander Palmer gave specific instructions that Pelican 1337 -your pelican- would contain only one person, and that person would be delivered to Infinity to assume command of Fireteam Crimson." He moves around a few more holograms as he speaks as I just stand there, my head spinning.

"Do you mind telling me your name, I.D number, and callsign, Spartan?" Roland asks, looking up at me. "Man, you're tall."

I ignore the last comment and nod my head at him.

"Sure. Orion Tennecks, I.D OT88, Callsign: Tortoise."

Roland nods as he swipes through more hologram datapads.

"Give me a sec, looking up your file."

We both stand in silence for about thirty seconds, my eyes still wandering around the hangar, until Roland snaps me out of my reverie.

"Ah, here we go. Sergeant Major Tennecks, twenty seven years old, six feet four inches, one hundred ninety eight pounds, short red hair, blue eyes, olive skin, part of the Spartan VI program, and is in the Stalker division. That sound about right?"

Roland looks up at me with a blank face. Geez, if he already had that stuff on file, why did he need me to confirm it? All the clues were already there, but nonetheless I nod without saying a word. Roland snaps his fingers and the hologram data pads dissapear, and he looks at me with a friendly expression.

"Alrighty. Commander Palmer will be with you after she's done chewing out Majestic."

I raise an eyebrow at Roland.

"Who's Majestic?"

Roland points to a group of about five Spartans in a line, dressed in those suits but are colored blue, saluting a woman in front of them in a silver suit. That must be Palmer; the rest seem to be Majestic. She speaks to them for a minute or two, then she dimisses them, and they all walk past her and into a large doorway marked 'MESS' above it in rather large orange letters. Roland then appears on a terminal near her and points in my direction, saying a few things I can't hear from this distance. Palmer nods at Roland and begins walking my way. I quickly do all I can to straighten up and I put my hands behind my back respectfully. However, she saunters over rather casually, and when she reaches me she extends her hand.

"Sergeant Major. It's good to finally meet you. Commander Sarah Palmer."

I look at her hand for a second a little confused, but I quickly take her hand and give it a firm shake.

"Commander."

A small grin climbs onto her face as she let's go of the handshake, and takes a datapad from a Marine who hands it to her and returns to his post. She begins tapping on the datapad as she paces in front of me.

"So, I assume you must have lots of questions, huh?" She says without looking up from her datapad. I nod my head, even though she doesn't see me do it

"Yes, ma'am. Well, really just one at the moment, ma'am. Why does Roland say I'm...Crimson Leader?"

She looks up from her datapad and crosses her arms.

"Because you ARE Crimson Leader. Hand picked, too."

"But...why me, ma'am? I'm sure there were plenty of other candidates, others better suited than I am."

She let's out a short laugh, raising her eyebrow.

"Tennecks, you're the ideal Leader. I know why they call you Tortoise; it's because you've got the patience of one, and that's probably why your Stalker Ops go so well. You have the patience and wisdom to lead, and I have no doubts you'll do just fine. Trust me."

I sighed, a small smile creeping onto my face.

"Yes, ma'am. I guess I'll...do my best then."

She nods her head and points to the door labeled 'MESS'.

"Alright, go ahead and get some grub, then you can see yourself to your quarters."

She hands me the datapad she was using before I can even take one step, and looks me dead in the eyes.

"Your team members are on here too. After you've stuffed your face and found your room, you should probably find them and introduce yourself to them. The Team is going to want to know their Leader."

I slowly take the datapad from her hand, and nod slowly.

"Alright, can do, Commander."

She nods her head again and begins walking away to another door marked 'BRIDGE'. As she walks away, I can't help but notice her...figure. I'll admit I stood there for a second and just stared, until she shouted back to me without even turning around:

"And quit staring at my ass!"

I shake myself out of my stupor and blush bright red, then quickly start walking towards the mess hall. As I walk, I look down at the datapad she gave me and start flipping through it. Man, it's going to be a long day today...

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hey guys! Necro-Knight here with a new story Idea! In case you couldn't tell, it's about Fireteam Crimson. It'll follow their day to day, as well as missions. I hope for this story to be a blend of action, story, and maybe even a little bit of romance. Also, this story is SYOC! If you haven't heard of what this is, I'll explain. SYOC stands for Send Your Own Character, and basically what this means is that the readers (you!) can make a character using the template below and send it to me for moderation. If I like it, your character will become a part of the story! Right now, I'm only accepting three, and they can be any Gender you like. If this story catches your fancy and you'd like to send a character, please use the template I will provide and send me it! But before you do, I have a few rules I need to list.

1) Please no Mary or Gary Sue's please. I realize Spartans are pretty tough by themselves, so putting an overpowered OC in is just no fun.

2)Anyone who sends an OC must include the phrase 'Play the Xylobones' somewhere in the template so that I know you actually read the rules.

3) Be creative! I'm open to pretty much any idea besides Gary and Mary Sue, so don't be afraid to unleash that creativity!

4) Be sure to send your OC with the subject as CC: [OC Name Here] so that I remain organized.

Well, with that out of the way, here's the template! I look forward to seeing some OC's.

Name:

Nickname:

Callsign: (Can be pretty much anything, but nothing vulgar please. Try to have it make sense with your OC!)

Age:

Gender:

Height:

Weight:

Skin Tone:

Ethnicity:

Hair Color: (Any color is accepted!)

Hair style:

Eye Color: (Go crazy with it!)

Face shape: (Y'know, is it oval, more chiseled, etc.)

Voice: (Please try to describe how they sound to me.)

Body type: (Describe how their body is. Is it rather skinny, is it buff, etc.)

Bust Size: (Females Only)

Extra: (Any accessories, tattoos, piercings, facial hair, etc.)

Casualwear: (Basically what they wear around Infinity. Not limited to the Jumpsuits you usually see people wear. Can have multiple outfits.)

Armor: (PLEASE be descriptive with this. I need to know what pieces of armor they are using. It's not restricted to one set. This includes the Head, shoulders, chest, forearms, and legs. Remember to put armor color as well as any patterns!)

Armor Variant: (Is it just Spartan VI, or is it Wetwork, Pioneer, Stalker, etc.)

Battle Tactics: (Do they go in guns blazing, or do they make a plan, etc.)

Weapon(s): (A max of two, please. Can be customized, so describe it if it is. Is not restricted to being a main weapon and a sidearm; can be two main weapons.)

Preferred Weapon: (Everyone has a preference. What's the weapon they like to use the most?)

Grenade type: (What's the type of grenade they like the most?)

Armor Ability: (Such as Armor Lock, Jetpack, Evade, etc.)

Personality: (DETAILS! I CRAVE details for this. The more the better please. I need to get a good feel of your character.)

Background: (What's their story? How did they get aboard Infinity and how were they selected for Crimson? I would also LOVE backstory before that.)

Sexual Preference:

Romance?: (Do you want your OC to have romance? If so, please describe their ideal partner.)

Likes: (At least five please.)

Dislikes: (At least five.)

Hobbies:

Quirks: (Do they do anything strange or unusual?)

Strengths: (At least three, and must be lower than or equal to weaknesses.):

Weaknesses:

Opinion of Orion: (What do they think about Orion?)

Extra (Anything I missed you'd like to add?)

By the way, please delete the words in the parentheses when you send it. Thanks.

-Nate.


	2. Natterjack

Chapter 2: Natterjack

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Mess Hall was a very wide open room, with tables lined up neatly in rows, most of them occupied, and what seems to be booths lined up on one of the walls, with a window showing off the vastness of space outside each one. For the amount of soldiers in here, it was actually relatively quiet. Makes sense, I guess. In the military, you take every chance you get to have a good meal; you'll never know if it'll be your last.

I walk over to what appears to be a buffet style lineup of foods, but mostly stuff like oatmeal, some sausage, the occasional plate of scrambled eggs, and some fruit. I pick up a large red apple and look out among the vast array of tables. Normally, I would just pick the nearest table and sit, but something compelled me to march over to the far wall and sit down in one of the empty booths with a window. I sit down on the red plastic and set my datapad on the table, then look out the window, taking a bite out of my apple.

The vast blackness of space begins to make the gears in my heard turn, and I begin to think about how...lonely I am here. Dad and Mom died around a year ago, but I was blessed with many brothers and sisters. I'm the eldest in a family of six, but out of all my siblings to think about, my thoughts drift to Marie. Ah, Marie...she's the definition of sweetheart. I don't think as long as I've been alive that she's ever insulted anyone ever. You can imagine my surprise when she told me she was joining the U.N.S.C with me. But with this draft, I begin to worry if I'll be able to keep in touch with her. She's still in active duty I believe; could she even receive communications from me? I am the leader of a Fireteam now, so does that mean-

"Clench that apple any harder and you'll be getting apple juice, lad."

I jump slightly at the sudden voice, losing my grip on the apple, which falls on the floor, next to the stranger's black boots.

The sudden arrival was a man with greying black hair in a crew cut, but he seems to have let it grow out a bit. His face is chiseled and a little round, and seems to have a black light beard, as well as a pair of emerald eyes. His body is fit and a tad bit buff, reminding me alot of a swimmers body, but with white skin.

He bends down and picks the apple up quickly, brushing it off on his black and white Camo pants and setting it on the table. He also seems to be sporting a long sleeved black shirt that looked a little tight, and had the emblem of the U.N.S.C on his right shoulder. What surprised me a little about him was the fact that he had a black gun holster on his hip, but with nothing in it. Is that some new fashion fad? Eh, I'll never understand how people dress...

"So, you're the new recruit, eh?"

I lean back into my seat and look up at the man; he can't be much bigger than me in height.

"New to the ship, yes, but not to war."

The man chuckles and motions towards my seat.

"Mind if I 'ave a seat?"

The way he speaks is rather strange; it seems to be a mix of both a Scottish and British accent, but every time he speaks, it's like they both fight for control of which accent wins out. Most of the time it's the British one, but it's still a little difficult to understand. I nod my head, picking the apple up from the table and brushing it off.

He walks over to the seat opposite of me and sits himself down, his eyes scanning me for a moment before he extends his hand.

"Name's James Mercer III. Pleasure to meet ya, Mr...?"

I look at his hand for a second , then back to my datapad. The name Mercer sounds familiar...but I take his hand and give his hand a shake.

"Orion Tennecks. Good to meet you."

He smiles and retracts his hand, now choosing to stare out the window with a sigh. I take this opportunity to open my datapad back up and scroll over to the first document of my team members. Sure enough, it's labeled Mercer, James, but strangely leaves out the part of him being the third. The rest of the document goes into his physical details like his height and weight, but is rather vague in personal history, with black marks covering most of it.

I set the datapad down and look back towards James, who is still staring out the window with a glazed over look on his face. I cross my arms and decide to try something to make sure it's really him.

"So any reason you've come over here, Natterjack?"

He shakes himself out of his reverie and looks over at me, a small grin creeping onto his face.

"Finally put two and two together, Tortoise?"

Now it was my turn to grin.

"So then you know who I am."

"I also know you're leader of Crimson, too."

"Then I can assume you know you're already a part of that Fireteam."

James smiles, leaning backwards in his seat and crossing his arms.

"That would be correct, sir."

I raise an eyebrow at this, my expression becoming a little more serious.

"Sir?"

James shrugs, his smile still on his face.

"You're my superior, right? Gotta call you sir, then."

I pause at this and look at my datapad again, scanning his document until I find what I need.

"...says here you're thirty seven. You know, with a record like yours and your experience, you could have easily gotten my position. But they didnt give it to you. So how come?"

James merely shrugs again, his body becoming a bit more relaxed.

"I'm a strategist, yeah, but that doesn't mean I'm fit to lead. I've read your file too, you know, and I've heard what Palmer said about you. There's a reason they hand picked you and didn't just give it to any old Spartan on Infinity."

I sigh, scratching the back of my head.

"How much did Palmer say about me?"

"Only as much as she could. My file isn't the only one covered in black ink."

He gives me a wink, and I roll my eyes. He sits forward and points at my datapad.

"You mind if I take a look at this?"

I give him a suspicious look, sitting forward as well.

"What is it you're looking for?"

He puts his hand in his pocket and pulls out a disk shaped object and places it on the table.

"It has the rest of your team members in those documents, right? If I take a look, I can give you their locations so you don't have to be running all around Infinity looking for them. This is a big ship, mate. You don't want to get lost."

I give him a stare for a few more seconds as I ponder this. He seems like the trustworthy type, but I've been deceived before. He might give me locations , or he might just straight up delete the files for shits and giggles...

I decide to take a chance and slide the datapad over to him.

"Alright. Just don't delete anything, or its your ass on the line."

He nods and pulls the datapad towards him, looking at the documents. After a few seconds, he hits a button on the disk like object he pulled out, and it begins to glow. An image of a Sangheili with some type of robes on appears and turns towards James.

"Something I can help you with?"

I raise an eyebrow at what I see. An image of a Sangheili? A disk like object?

"Is that...an A.I? Of a Sangheili?"

James looks up from his datapad, then down at the minature Sangheili.

"Yep. Made him myself. Modeled him after Ysan 'Mdatum, a Sangheili Counselor. He helps me out pretty much everywhere, from day to day tasks to battle tactics."

"You made an A.I? All by yourself? How!?"

James shrugs and looks back at the data pad.

"Had a lot of free time on my hands."

I sigh and roll my eyes. I'll have to be patient with this guy and ask again later; it seems like he's almost done with this.

James and the A.I talk for a minute about the other documents, then Ysan nods and turns to the datapad.

"I'll send their most likely locations into the datapad. You should probably leave now if you want to catch them."

James looks back to me and hands me the datapad.

"There you go, directions and everything."

I look down at the datapad, which is listing off directions in text and displaying them on a mini map. Man, this ship is huge. Some of the directions take up five pages worth!

"It'll be a miracle if I don't get lost doing this."

"I can guide you around."

I look up to James who is still grinning like an idiot. I raise an eyebrow at him, my suspicion aroused.

"Why are you helping me out all the sudden?"

"'Cause its the job of the vet's to keep the newbies on the right track. Come on, I know the ship pretty well, and with Ysan with us, we'll never get lost."

'Famous last words', I whisper to myself as I let out a small sigh and stand up from the booth, taking another bite out of my apple and turning to James, who has stood up as well.

"Alright then. We better get moving."

He nods and grabs Ysan off the table and puts him back into his pocket, and we both start heading to the exit of the mess hall, James leading the way.

"Don't worry." he says, turning his head to me as we walk. "I even know a few shortcuts! We'll get there faster than you can say 'Irony'!"

I raise an eyebrow at his choice of words, but only let out another short sigh and follow him out the large door.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hey, hey! How's it hangin', people? So, here's our first OC and second member of Fireteam Crimson, James Mercer III, courtesy of Karmaisms. Let me know what you think of him and the chapter in the reviews please! Also, OC submissions are still open, and I am in dire need of female OC's! If you'd like to send an OC, take a look at the form in Chapter 1 or on my profile, but remember to read the rules for it in Chapter 1 first! I should also mention that you can send multiple OC's, even ones that are related to each other! You can even send a relative of Orion if you'd like! Just be sure to clearly state that to me, as Orion has five other siblings. Thanks again for reading, and have an exquisite day!

-Nate


	3. Pitt

A/N: I made a few errors in the first chapter. It's not Spartan VI, it's Spartan IV. My bad, and sorry for any confusion.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Well, i'm totally lost."

I sigh as I stand next to James at yet another dead end. This would be about number five. I would usually be a bit more annoyed if something like this were to happen, but honestly I'm astonished at the amount of dead ends this ship has.

James turns to me and shrugs. His face is a light shade of red and he looks rather embarrassed. I merely roll my eyes and turn to walk back down the hallway, opening up my datapad as James walks with me.

"So, who are we looking for right now anyway?"

I turn my head his way and raise an eyebrow.

"You mean to tell me you didn't actually look at the people when you had the chance to?"

He shrugs again, rubbing the back of his head.

"I wanted it to be a surprise."

I shake my head slowly and turn to my datapad, opening up the next file and taking a look at it. It seems to be a man called Antonio Jung, around twenty four years old, six foot one, black hair, blue eyes. His Callsign was a little odd though...I turned to James, who looked like he was racking his brain trying to remember where we were supposed to be going.

"James, do you know about someone called...Pitt?"

James turned his head to me quickly and looked taken aback.

"What? We're stuck with him? Out of everyone on Infinity, we get assigned with THAT asshole!?"

I raise my eyebrow at him, looking from him to my Datapad multiple times.

"I assume there's some bad blood here."

James scoffs as he stops walking and rubs the bridge of his nose with his fingers.

"That guy is just...a complete jackass. He acts pissy to pretty much everyone but his superiors. Especially Spartan IV's. There's even a rumor going around that he jumped a couple of them."

I cross my arms across my chest as I ponder this, my eyes drifting back to my datapad.

"...well, seems we've got our work cut out for us then. Do you know where he likes to hang out?"

James nods, albeit rather slowly as he begins walking forward.

"Yeah. Come on, I know a shortcut that wi-"

"Maybe we should just stick with directions from the datapad?" I quickly say to him, holding my datapad up for effect. His face turns red again and he slowly nods as he walks back to me.

"Search up directions for the Sparring Room. He's usually there."

I nod, inserting the phrase into the search bar on my datapad. After a second, the directions load up, and we begin our walk to the Sparring Room.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It took around fifteen minutes, but with the directions from the datapad we hardly ever got lost. James and I now stand outside a door with the words 'SPARRING' in bright orange letters above it. I turn to James and give him a nod, which he returns, and we both push open the doors to reveal a large room consisting of a large raised square arena that reminds me alot of a wrestling ring but without the ropes, as well as benches surrounding it. The platform itself was a dull green, while everything else was the usual chrome pattern the ship hosts.

In the middle of the ring stood a man turned away from us, and he appeared to be using a wooden sword of some sort. He would slash quickly in one direction, only to just as quickly slash in the opposite. From the way he handled it, I could tell he had experience in using it; it wasn't sloppy or choppy movements, they were quick and precise.

James and I walk toward the man, stopping once we reached the edge of the ring.

"Excuse me! Are you Pitt?"

The man stopped his slashing and stood up straight, turning to face us. His face was rather square, with a chiseled jawline and high cheekbones. His black hair was styled a bit strangely, with the sides and back forming a combover, and his pale blue eyes popped out against his skin, which I could only describe as the color of terracotta.

He wiped the sweat off his brow and dropped his arm to his black cargo pants, which were tucked into some black boots. His white vest seemed to contradict his whole outfit, and the fur lined khaki jacket over it even more so.

He walked over to the edge of the platform we were standing at and knelt down so that he was near face level to his, the wooden sword put gently on the ground next to him. With his face so close I could make out a scar running through the left side of his lip, about three inches, and a small mole under his left eyebrow.

"Yeah, that's me. Who's askin'?"

His voice was very smooth and pleasant, but the way he spoke to us you might have thought he just witnessed a crime against nature. You could FEEL the loathing in his tone.

"Hey, show some respect! This guy is your new XO!"

James pats me on the shoulder as he glares at Pitt, who has turned his attention to James.

"I wasn't askin' you old timer. I was askin' him."

He turns his head back to me, a look of annoyance spreading onto it.

"You're leading Crimson, then?"

I nod, staring straight back at him, while maintaining a neutral expression.

"That's right."

Pitt laughs and stands back up, shaking his head.

"Of course they'd pick a wimp like him to lead. Figures Palmer would do something that stupid."

I merely roll my eyes; with James' warnings I came to expect this.

"You always like this to your XO's?"

"Only to the ones who look like pussies."

Pitt turns again and walks to the middle of the ring, swinging his wooden sword around. I smirk as I hand James my datapad.

"What? Wait, what're you doing?"

"Showing him who's Alpha."

I stretch my arm out and then stretch my leg.

"You're going to fight him?"

"Guys like these learn by example, James. He needs to learn who's in charge, or he's going to be a liability."

"I get that Orion, but do you have to do this now? We still have other members to find and-"

"This won't take more than a minute."

James' jaw drops slightly as he takes a step back.

"One minute? You're that confident?"

I smirk as I hop onto the platform.

"Confidence is key, James."

I walk to the middle of the platform and tap on Pitt's shoulder. He turns around and a scowl claws it's way onto his face.

"What do you want?"

"Fight me."

His eyebrows raise and he takes a few steps back.

"What?"

"Fight me. Right here, right now."

"You're insane if you think you can beat me."

"We're all a little crazy."

His scowl turns into a frown as he drops his sword and starts cracking his knuckles, hopping a bit as if to warm up. I grin as I walk backwards a few steps, holding my hands behind my back and waiting for him to make the first move. His frown turns into a twisted smile as he shakes his hands out.

"Gonna bloody your face, pretty boy. And no crying when I'm done either, cause you started it."

I nod, smiling while still staring at him.

"Very good. Just one rule for this fight, okay? You have to get your opponent on the ground to win."

"Fine by me."

He then rushes forward to me at an incredible speed, and sends a left hook my way. I simply step inside his punch and deliver a swift chop to his throat. His eyes widen as he steps back, gasping for breath, and I grab the back of his neck. His eyes show a fear I never expected before I force him, face first, into the ground, after which I promptly place a foot on his back. I lean down towards him, and I can still hear him wheezing a little.

"You've got impressive speed, but nothing else. Try building some more muscle before you insult everything you see."

I step off of him and hop off the edge of platform near James, who hands me my datapad with a stunned expression on his face. I take it and start for the door, motioning James to follow. He shakes himself out of his stupor and fast walks to catch up to me, and we both walk out of the Sparring Room and back into the hallway, all the while I can feel Pitt's glare burrowing into the back of my head. We walk in silence for a while until James finally breaks the silence.

"Okay, what the HELL was that!?"

I smirk as I keep my gaze focused straight ahead.

"Him learning his place. Weren't you watching?"

"Yes, I was bloody watching, and you beat him in two moves! TWO! How!?"

I chuckle as we round a corner into a more busier hallway of Infinity, with Marines walking around us nearly everywhere.

"It's all about reading your opponent, James. You're a strategist, you should know that."

James opens his mouth to respond, hesitates, and closes it again. He was truly at a loss for words. I laugh at his blatant expression of confusion. I better get used to seeing that expression; I'm bound to see more of it with the events to come.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hello again everyone! How have you been? Good? Great! Anyways, here's our second member of Crimson, Antonio Jung, A.K.A Pitt, courtesy of TakenPenNames. Also, I have some updates for you; I have decided to add on to the amount of OC'S accepted and make Crimson a five man team, maybe six. Hey, Majestic had five, and I think other Fireteams had more, so why not Crimson too? That also means that OC submission is open longer as well, and will only be open for about three weeks more. I am also uploading another story idea later today, if things go well, so take a look at it if you'd like. As always, every review of the story helps, let me know what you think of the chapters so far, and you can always P.M me if you have any questions!

-Nate


	4. Muliloa

"So, what's next?"

I look back over to James and down at my datapad again. It had been around half an hour since our little run in with Pitt, and on our way to find our next member, we got lost. Again. I'm beginning to see a theme here...

"I told you this a dozen times, James. I. Dont. Know. I don't know this ship like the back of my hand just yet."

I tossed my datapad to him, and he grabs it without much trouble.

"You figure it out."

He only shrugs and begins swiping through it, scratching his head now and then. I sigh and turn to the window next to us, staring back out into space. The black void was...well, still black and void-like. The metal under my feet felt colder than usual as well...something is off. I just can't put my finger on it...

"I may have an idea of where to go."

I turn to James, who is now walking down the hallway to a rather large door at the end, and I fast walk to catch up to him.

"Where?"

"Gotta cut through Atrium Park to get there. It's through this giant door."

I raise an eyebrow as we walk, turning my head to face the oversized door.

"Atrium Park? What the heck is that?"

James looks over to me and smiles, hitting a nearby button to open the door. On the inside is something I would have never have expected to see. It's a VERY large room, put it looks just like a park back on Earth, minus the fact that the paths are the same metal as the rest of the ship. Trees of all kinds dot the place, ranging from plain old birch to even my personal favorite, the cherry tree. I've always found its pink blossoms oddly...comforting. There's even a small stream running through it! How the heck did they do that?

I walk inside, James following closely behind, and I can tell he's smirking. I pause near one of the trees and reach out, gripping it's bark. It's a real tree! Nothing virtual or holographic, the real frigging thing!

"How in the world did you guys get permission to put this stuff on the ship?"

James shrugs, too busy admiring the scenery.

"Beats me. It's still pretty amazing to loom at though, right? Like a piece of Earth came with us."

I nod, running my hand down the trunk of the tree. James and I just let the time pass by as we both take turns just admiring the beauty of nature, before I snap myself our of my stupor and turn to him, who seems to be hugging the tree at the moment.

"Weren't we looking for someone?"

James turns to me, the glazed look in his eyes fading as he nods his head.

"Oh. Right. This way."

He hesitantly release the tree from his hold and continues down the path through the park and to another large door on the far side of the park. He opens it up and steps inside, and I follow close behind him, the door shutting tight behind us. I turn my head back to the door while still walking forward.

"Definitely gotta head back there. The place seems so...serene."

James nods in agreement.

"I know what you mean. Almost no one is in there except for maintenance, so it's always quiet and peaceful. One of my most favorite places to go when I'm bored."

After a few minutes of walking we begin to reach a pair or double doors with the words GYMNASIUM in bright bold orange hanging above it. I look from the words back down to my datapad and nod slowly.

"Well, it does say that she likes to play basketball...so we might find her here."

James nods, then pats me on the shoulder.

"Right. Well, you can handle this. I've got some things to do."

He then begins walking in the other direction, and I turn to face him, but he doesn't stop walking.

"What? You're just going to leave me alone?"

James calls back without even looking behind him.

"You'll be fine! You're not scared of a girl, are you?"

He laughs as he reopens the door to the Park and dissapeared as the door closes in front of him. I sigh, massaging my temples. I'm not scared of girls; I'm scared of their tempers. However, I brush my anxiety inside and push both doors open.

The inside of the gymnasium isn't much to talk about; in fact it highly resembles a high school gym. Right now, only one person is using it. A bright orange basketball bouncing across the floor is the only sound in the entire gym. I walk forward and stop just outside the court, and call to the person dribbling the ball around.

"Beg pardon! I'm looking for Muliloa."

The dribbling stops.

"Well, it looks like you found her."

The woman picks up the ball and begins walking over to me. Now that she's not sprinting all around the court, I can actually get a good view of her.

The first thing that stood out was how tall she was. Man! And I thought I was tall, but she easily dwarfed me. Her file said about six foot eight, and I didn't believe it at first, but the proof is right here. And I still don't believe it. Her hair was a long chocolate brown, with eyes to match, and her tan skin worked well with it. Her face was oval, her cheeks being more pronounced, and her body was...well, eye-catching. It's a very lean, curvy body and her...assets were...well, you get the point.

She wore khaki colored shorts and the usual olive colored UNSC tanktop, with some white sneakers. As she neared me, she reached her hand out, and I could spot what seemed to be...tattoo sleeves? And they look more tribal as well...odd, but I took her hand and shook it nonetheless. She smiled as she shook my hand, and I could feel a little heat rising to me cheeks. Hey, give me a break. She's a very attractive woman!

"Good to meet you, Muliloa. I'm Orion, and I'll be leading Fireteam Crimson, which I believe you are a part of?"

She nods her head as she releases her grip of my hand.

"Yes sir. But please, call me Clair."

"Alright then. Can I assume you've been introduced to the other members of the team, Clair?"

"Well, I know James and the jackass, but I believe there's a few others I haven't met yet."

I could feel a frown grow as I sighed at this. I was really hoping she could tell me where one of them was.

"Damn. Guess I'll have to try and figure out where those ones are then..."

"Have you tried asking Roland?"

I look up at her, the confusion on my face obvious.

"Ask...Roland? Why would I ask Roland?"

"He's the ships A.I, he's bound to know where everyone is."

I raise a finger to counteract this, but I slowly put it back down in realization; I could have done that this entire time. I just wasted near two hours of my life walking around lost when I had a working A.I ready to give me directions.

"...How do I do that."

She gives a small smile as she rolls her eyes and points to a strange looking button on my datapad.

"Just hit that and Roland should come up. He'll give directions."

I look down at it, then back to Clair.

"Oh. Well...thanks Clair. You're a real lifesaver!"

She only winks at me as she turns and begins walking back to the court.

"No problem, Sugar Cakes."

I begin to turn, but pause for a moment. Sugar Cakes? Did she seriously just call me that? I turn back to look at her, but she's already back at it, dribbling the ball around like nobodies buisness. I sigh as I turn and walk back to the door. As I do so, my thoughts begin to drift back to her and then to her figure...

I shake my head and expelled the thoughts. Bad brain! Bad! She may be extremely attractive but you've got a job to! You're running a Fireteam! Getcha head in the game, boyo!

I continue my little rant as I walk out the gym door and out of sight, Clair still playing ball like her life depended on it.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hey again everyone! How ya doing? Good? Great! Anywho, here's the fourth member of Crimson, Clair Conley, compliments of My Wunderwaffle iz missin. Let me know what you think of her and the chapter please, and remember! The deadline for OC submission is two weeks from today, so if you have an OC you wanna send or another one that you made, be sure to send that in soon, as ones submitted after the deadline will have no chance of passing moderation. Thanks for reading, and a pleasant rest of your day!

-Nate


End file.
